1nov2012

Halloween

All Hallows Day. Samhain. This is when the door between the two worlds fades and you actually can pass through.

Breaking through to the other side.

The caretaker rose from his hiding in the labyrinth and took a small key from his pocket.

“Here”, he said, as he handed it to her.

He smiled and left.

She held the small key wondering where it fit as the three of them frowned at her.

“If you leave, you can never come back”.

“Leave?”

It was then that she realized that the key opened the main gate. Such a small key for a huge gate as that, who could guess.

“What is there at the other side?”

“Nothing”, one of them said.

“Nothing you need”, said the other.

“Nothing that will do you any good”, said the third.

It had never occurred to her that the main gate could be opened at all. But now that she did, opening it was irresistible. It was the end of an endless and fruitless pursuit for a way out. No more carving of bricks with pathetic tools, no more digging, no more climbing walls.

She thought she hated them. They fought over every little thing. They fought such long fights that more often than not, she had no idea what had started it. Yet she engaged in heated debate and intricate plots with them.

Now that she held the small key in her hand, she looked at them tenderly. She knew she loved them.

“I’ll just take a walk and come back”, said she.

“No, you won’t: as soon as you step into the road, there is no return. You won’t stop”

“Yes I will – I do what I want”

“It’s stronger than you. You can’t help but follow the road”

“Then I’ll come back for you”

“We won’t be here”

“Will you be gone? Where to?”

“We won’t go anywhere”

She smiled. They weren’t making any sense again.

She went to the main gate and opened it. The great door creaked loudly as she pushed it.

“If you take one more step, you will never see us again”

“Why? I’m tired of you, but I am always around”

“Because we’re dead”

She stood there silently. It all made sense now. What an irony: she always thought she was the one who was dead. And that it was why none of her attempts to escape worked.

She smiled and walked back to them.

“I love each one of you. Each one in a different way, but I love you all so much…”

They said nothing and kept frowning. But she turned her back on them and walked.

As soon as she crossed the gate and looked back, they faded away. The house faded away too. Even the gate disappeared.

In front of her, only a small dirt road that went on and on, she had no idea where to.